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Attention readers - in our never-ending quest to keep TMC's growing audience up to date on the latest happenings in the market we will be in DC with our video crew next week interviewing companies in the Baltimore and Washington DC area. We are looking for CEOs, CMOs, and Presidents at companies which are in the tech and/or communications spaces. This includes 4G, satellite, cable, etc. Here is a sample of what the finished video will look like.

Recently I wrote about the Google Apps Marketplace and how it brings a walled garden approach to the desktop and my thesis revolved around the idea that a few years back you could download any piece of software you wanted without having to go through a gatekeeper. I am not a fan of censorship of any kind - after experiencing a world where I could download any application to any computer I own, I am now seeing that this situation has changed for the worse. In my family there are various devices and more of them have Apples logos on them and the newer ones only allow you to install apps through the Apple approved App Store.

And I am fine with the idea that Apple likes to protect its users by screening for malicious software but many of my readers tell me they are very uncomfortable with their censoring of apps which they feel are offensive, sexually suggestive and/or competitive. I have nothing against Apple but I have everything against any company which limits the choices of my readers after they spend their money to purchase a product.

If you want to thank someone for lowering your phone bill, you have a few options - you can thank the founders of Skype and Vonage or go back to the nineties and thank the many people at VocalTec who invented and popularized VoIP before anyone else even thought of it. Much of the reason TMC decided to launch a magazine titled Internet Telephony back in 1997 was because we saw the transformational power of the IP telephony gateways and software which VocalTec produced.

VocalTec co-founder Alon Cohen is a personal hero for what he did by literally changing the way the world communicates. Moreover, I am often called by patent attorneys who are involved in patent cases regarding technology which Cohen invented many years earlier.

I swear I haven't been playing hooky today and yesterday - I have in fact been meeting with lots of very innovative Canadian companies - most of which I met for the first time. Innovation as always is alive and well up here in Canada. It is also surprisingly cold at night this week (why I don't check weather forecasts every time I travel so I can remember to bring a jacket is beyond me) and the people here seem to love living in Canada. Moreover they say the quality of life and crime rate is low but the taxes are ridiculously high.

I am fortunate that I get to speak reporters about my company from time to time and whenever I do I always worry until the article comes out. Reporters are busy (speaking from experience) and they don't always get all the facts right. I always blame myself when this happens - after all if you communicate in a clear, concise manner with an organized, structured system of segueing between topics, it is much easier to follow.

Personally I have sat in briefings with charismatic tech leaders who spend 30 minutes talking and when I look at my notes, I wonder what the heck was said.

When advising entrepreneurs how best to explain their products to customers to minimize the barrier to adoption, I often say focus on the solutions your product or service provides. At the end of the day, we all have problems and will pay to have them solved. In case you doubt me I invite you to visit Doggie Doo Not, a service dedicated to pooper scooper activities on your property.

How do companies make it through gut-wrenching industry and technological change without going under?

I do my best to wish every TMC a team member a Happy TMC Anniversary and as such the start date of all of our full-time members are in my calendar so I can be the one to send them this greeting (If I forgot you in the past - please accept my apologies). Last week I noticed that it was the anniversary of Nadji Tehrani, the company Founder & Chairman, my father and the person who decided to start this company in 1972. Funny, I never noticed his start date on my calendar before - and it occurred to me that this was TMC's 38-year anniversary.

I have heard a number of positive comments regarding the addition of an optical event at ITEXPO this fall. Thanks for all your comments. As I mentioned recently, Lightwave ONE which stands for "Optical Networks for Enterprises" will be collocated with ITEXPO Oct 4-6 2010 in Los Angeles, CA.

As you likely know, we at TMC do our best to ensure we provide the most complete educational experience we can under one roof.

Smart health systems have the potential to transform healtchare and weight-loss in a similar manner to the way electronic spreadsheets transformed corporate analysis and boosted the bottom line

One of the largest shifts in technology which has silently grown in importance in the world of electronics and technology is that of the product ecosystem - the group of smart products which interact with one another to provide a collective solution much more powerful, adaptable and flexible than any particular component of the ecosystem.

If you haven't kept up with the Smart Product Ecosystem or SPEC site on TMCnet, please do as this is the best place I know of to keep up with the market and its evolution. There are some fascinating stories I just received in this week's SPEC enewsletter (subscribe) and I will focus on the first one as you are free to check out the others at your leisure.

The first story from Professor Mary Cronin discusses MetaLogics, a company that developed a sensor to determine accurate caloric expenditure.

Dialogic and Veraz Networks just announced their intent to merge and the news has many implications for the numerous markets the companies play in. Nick Jensen, CEO of Dialogic had this to say about the merger, "By combining Dialogic's proven expertise in application enablement for voice and video with Veraz's leadership in voice, data, session control, security, and transport, we will be creating a company with innovative products that will enable our customers to unleash the profit of video, voice and data for 3G/4G networks."

Dialogic has been a voracious company having rolled up much of the communications development market over the years. By integrating once fierce competitors NMS and Brooktrout/Cantata the company has taken on more and more share of market.